Thomas Warton the elder
Thomas Warton, the elder (?1688-1745) was an English clergyman and schoolmaster, known as the second Oxford Professor of Poetry. Life Warton was born about 1688, son of Antony Warton (1650–1715), vicar of Godalming. He matriculated at Hart Hall, Oxford, on 3 April 1706, but soon migrated to Magdalen College, where he held a demyship from 1706 to 1717, and a fellowship from 1717 to 1724. He earned a B.A. on 17 February 1710, an M.A. in 1712, and a Bachelor of Divinity in 1725.Lee, 431. In 1717-18 Warton circulated both in manuscript and in print a satire in verse on George I, which he entitled "The Turnip Hoer," and wrote lines for the Old Pretender James III's picture. No copy of either composition is now known. Warton's Jacobite sympathies made him popular in the university, and he was elected Professor of Poetry in succession to Joseph Trapp. He possessed small literary qualifications for the office, and his election provoked the sarcasm of Nicholas Amhurst, who satirized Warton across three numbers of his Terrae Filius; "Squeaking Tom of Maudlin" is the sobriquet Amhurst conferred on him. He married Elizabeth, second daughter of Joseph Richardson, rector of Dunsfold, Surrey, and left two sons, Joseph (born 1722) and Thomas (1728), and a daughter, Jane (1723). After 1723 Warton ceased to reside regularly in Oxford. In that year he became vicar of Basingstoke, Hampshire, and master of the grammar school there. Among his pupils was the naturalist Gilbert White. He remained at Basingstoke till his death, but with the living he held successively the vicarages of Framfield, Sussex (1726), of Woking, Surrey (from 1727), and of Cobham, Surrey. He died at Basingstoke on 10 September 1745, and was buried in the church there. Writing Warton was a writer of occasional poetry, but published no collection in his lifetime. After his death his son Joseph issued, by subscription, Poems on Several Occasions by the Rev. Thomas Warton, London, 1748. Some "runic" odes included are said to have drawn the attention of the poet Thomas Gray to those topics. The authenticity of some of the poems has been questioned, David Fairer concluding that "not only had Joseph Warton sometimes heavily edited and improved his father's verses, but that he and his brothers wrote at last ten of the poems themselves."David Fairer, "The Poems of Thomas Warton the Elder?," Review of English Studies XXVI:104 (1975), 395-406. JStor, Web, Jan. 3, 2017. Jack Lynch, Oxford Handbook of British Poetry, 1660-1800 (Oxford University Press, 2016), 235. Google Books, Web, Jan. 3, 2017. Recognition Warton was elected Oxford Professor of Poetry on 17 July 1718. He was re-elected, in spite of the opposition of the Constitution Club, for a second term of five years in 1723. He retired from the professorship in 1728. Publications *''Poems on Several Occasions'' (edited by Joseph Warton). London: R. Manby & H.S. Cox, 1748; New York: Facsimile Text Society, 1930. *''The Three Wartons: A choice of their verse'' (with Thomas Warton & Joseph Warton; edited by Eric Partridge). London: Scholartis Press, 1927; Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1970. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Thomas Warton the elder, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Aug. 19,2014. See also *List of British poets References * . Wikisource, Web, Jan. 3, 2016. Notes External links ;Poems *Thomas, the Elder Warton at Poetry Nook (52 poems) ;About *Rev. Thomas Warton the Elder at English Poetry, 1579-1830 * Warton, Thomas (1688?-1745) Category:1688 births Category:1745 deaths Category:English Anglican priests Category:Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford Category:English poets Category:18th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Oxford Professors of Poetry Category:British academics